Dickens County
  USGenWeb Project

Courtesy of The Texas Spur

Billy Dan Bingham of Spur recently attended the Iwo Jima Veterans Reunion held in Biloxi, Mississippi February 21-25. He and other members of the U.S. Marines 3rd, 4th, and 5th divisions who fought on the island joined to honor the 55th anniversary of the battle on Iwo Jima.

The reunion was held at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Biloxi and was attended by 700 people. Bingham and some of the original 110,000 soldiers who fought at Iwo Jima recalled the battle where more than 6,000 soldiers died in February of 1945.

The battle of Iwo Jima secured a landing strip that would have made a Japanese invasion possible. The soldiers, most of them 73 to 76 years old, gathered to heal wounds, share their experiences, and also to laugh.

Bingham, a member of the 4th Division, retold his experience in an article which appeared in the November 11, 1999, issue of the Texas Spur. In that article he recalled the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima that lasted 36 days. The attack began February 19, 1945.

"I knew I was in the wrong place after three days on the beach," said Bingham in that article.

The reunion held in Biloxi is an annual event which has been going on now for 14 years. Bingham has attended most of those events.

Bingham took part in reunion activities last week which included a tour of the Ingalls Shipyard where the USS Iwo Jima assault ship is under construction.

The Texas Spur, Thursday, March 2, 2000, page three

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